UK public support for nuclear wanes on Japan crisis

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - More people still support UK
plans to build nuclear power plants than oppose them, according
to a survey by GfK NOP, but support is waning with 37 percent
more likely to oppose plans after Japan's nuclear crisis.

Thirty five percent of respondents in a survey of 1,003
adults -- conducted from March 18-20 for Friends of the Earth to
measure the British public's reaction to Japan's nuclear safety
scare -- said they were still in favour of plans to replace
Britain's ageing reactors. Some 28 percent said they opposed
building new nuclear plants.

More than a third said they were more likely to oppose
Britain's nuclear plans after a huge tsunami seriously damaged
Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, sparking the worst nuclear
accident in 25 years, but 16 percent said they were more likely
to support new nuclear than they were before the March 11 quake.

Despite more people still being in favour of building new
nuclear plants than opposing Britain's multi-billion pound
atomic energy programme, nearly half of those surveyed said most
UK energy investment over the next decade should be in solar,
wind and wave power technologies.

Only 9 percent told the GkK NOP survey most money should be
spent on nuclear plants, and 44 percent said they were generally
worried about the safety of Britain's nuclear power plants,
while 25 percent said they were not.
(Reporting by Daniel Fineren)